Weekly Journal #1

A very long time ago, I decided that it was time to put an end to my 52-week-project. I promised a replacement – a weekly journal – but my life has been very busy for the last few months, and I haven’t had much chance to write anything. However, things are beginning to quiet down, and so here is weekly journal #1!

I went back home to the Dales last weekend, which was a much needed break. York has left me feeling very uninspired as of late, so a change of scenery was essential. On Saturday I went for a walk in the woods, which resulted in the lovely image of the robin I put up earlier this week. That night I decided to try something a little different. I’ve had an interest in astrophotography recently, and so I went out on what I thought was going to be a clear winter night, and pointed my lens at the heavens.

Stars through Cloud

To tell you the truth, this image leaves me feeling a little bit disappointed. I wanted to try and capture some star trails, but shortly after taking this, a thick cloud came over me and left my view of the stars completely obscured. The image itself is out of focus, and really doesn’t have the impact I’d hoped for.

I think it’s important that I share moments like this on the blog, because otherwise you get a very one-sided view into my photography. As with all art, it is mostly comprised of failures like this one. When I call my photographs failures, my friends and family rush to try and counter to me. That instinct is understandable. We live in a society that rejects failure, but it’s worth remembering that failure is not a bad thing. Without it, we’d have nothing by which to judge our successes. It’s the rarity of the beautiful images that make them worth chasing.